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Monday, August 27, 2012

The Deceit of Mormonism


"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

-Matthew 7:15

                I am not interested in attacking an individual, so please do not be defensive, but I do feel that it needs to be shown why Mormonism is not from God. Please seriously consider what I have to say; I feel the evidence is overwhelming; people just need to be made aware of it. But it will take more than just evidence to show you the truth. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit convicting people of the truth. I hope that He will partly use this evidence in doing so. The question is not what do the facts say, the question is, are you willing to accept them and turn to the true Jesus Christ under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.

“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary
to that which we have preached to you, let him be cursed.”

-Galatians 1:8

                The Mormon church teaches a different gospel than the Bible. The Mormon book is a direct contradiction to the Bible, but then they try to use the Bible to back up their beliefs. It is merely a vehicle to substantiate their ideas. In order to justify its aberrant theology, Mormonism has undermined the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible.

                Second John 9 tells us that "Anyone who goes ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. Anyone who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son."

The Bible also tells us: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God"--1 John 4:1-2. The doctrine of the Mormon church goes ahead, leaving the true Jesus Christ behind - the Mormon teachings on Jesus squarely contradict what the Bible tells us about Him. Mormon teachings also contradict Biblical truth on many other issues.

                The Mormon Church teaches that Jesus Christ was not God in His very nature and essence from all eternity, but a preexistent spirit, as they say we all were, and that He was simply the firstborn of God's spirit Children. On the contrary, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God-He is 100 percent God and 100 percent man.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

-John 1:1…14

                This clearly shows that the Word (Jesus) did not become God, but was God. The Word was God and Jesus was the Word, hence Jesus is God. Jesus, being God, was not created like we are created. In John 8:58, Jesus says that He was before Abraham. If Abraham was preexistent than how could Jesus be before Him? In addition, if Jesus is not Eternal, Almighty God, how could He say that He was still in existence before Abraham? The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ is God, the Mormon Church does not; therefore, the Mormon Church leaves the doctrine of Christ behind.

                The Mormons believe in many gods (Journal of Discourses 6:5). The Bible states that there is only one God: "...we know that there is no such thing as idols in the world and that there is no God but one"-1 Corinthians 8:4. Hence, we see that there is one God who exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and eternal, the one God; three distinct persons in one essence. The Mormon Church denies this Trinity.

                The Mormon Church teaches that God himself was once a man: "As man is, God was." Mormon theology teaches that God is only one of countless gods, that he used to be a man on another planet, that he became a god by following the laws and ordinances of that god on that world, and that he brought one of his wives to this world with whom he produces spirit children who then inhabit human bodies at birth. The first spirit child to be born was Jesus. Second was Satan, and then we all followed. But the Bible teaches that God is immutable (He cannot change).

"Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow"

-James 1:17

                If God was once man, then He changed, but if He changed from man to God, He is not immutable. And since God is eternal (Genesis 21:33; Psalm 90:2), He is free from succession of time and cannot therefore "become" anything. He simply is, always has been, and always will be everything that He is: "I am who I am" He said to Moses in Exodus 3:14. This verse emphasizes God’s self-existence. To say that God was once man is to deny His self-existence, which by definition would have to be from all eternity. This is quite frankly a very low view of Almighty God -- He said, "I am who I am," not, "I am who you want me to be." Also, it says in Genesis 1 that God created man, therefore who could not have been a mere man himself.

                The Mormon Church teaches that, "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's" (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22). But Jesus said "God is spirit" -John 4:24. The belief that the Father has flesh and bones also contradicts 1 Kings 8:27 and Acts 17:24. Who created God's body? What about God's omnipresence? (Psalm 139:7-12) Nowhere is there any support in the Bible for this Mormon doctrine, only support against it.

                The Mormon Church also teaches that man can attain godhood: As God is, man may become. But God said in Exodus 20:3 that there will be no other gods but him. In Isaiah 43:10 it is said that before God there were none, and after Him, there is none. They also teach that polygamy is ok. While polygamy is taught as something that can happen eternally in doctrines and covenants, the Bible teaches that two make one flesh and that a man should not have more than his one wife. Although most all Mormons are monogamous they can still, by doctrinal teachings, be sealed to more than one person.

                Mormonism teaches that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross itself (and receiving it by faith) is not sufficient to bring forgiveness of sins. It teaches that the forgiveness of sins is obtained through a cooperative effort with God; that is, we must be good and follow the laws and ordinances of the Mormon Church in order to obtain forgiveness. The book of Romans and Galatians tells us that faith is more important than the law and Abraham was made righteous through his faith. Christians believe that works reap reward and that serving God is good, and that it happens naturally when you are born-again in spirit, but that salvation is purely earned through faith in Jesus and his sacrifice and purification (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5-7, Romans 4:1-5).

"Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image
in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures...for they exchanged
 the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forevermore.”

-Romans 1:22-23…25

                Salvation is a free gift from God, and cannot be accomplished on the basis of works, but can only be received Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” Because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), everyone is separated from God and deserves death (eternal separation from God), and when someone tries to earn their salvation, because of their sin, all they are earning is death: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord"-Romans 6:23. All that we need to do to receive this gift of God is believe in Jesus Christ, trusting Him alone to save us: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life"-John 3:16. There is no other way to be saved. When the people asked Jesus, "What shall we do to be doing the works of God?" (John 6:28), Jesus replied, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” Good works are a testimony to the accomplished fact of one's salvation, purchased not by works, but by the blood of Jesus Christ.

                Christ died to pay the death penalty we deserve for our sins -- He died in our place. Good works or believing in Joseph Smith cannot save because they cannot get rid of the death penalty we are under for our sin; only Christ can do that. In order for Christ to pay the death penalty He had to be perfect and in order to pay the death penalty for more than one person He had to be infinite. Only God is perfect and infinite and, therefore, Christ had to be God in order to be qualified to pay the death penalty. Also Christ must be human to pay the death penalty for a human, but also God to satisfy the righteousness of God. Therefore Christ must be 100% man and 100 percent God, and He is! To deny that Christ is God is in effect denying what He did for us at the cross. In order to be saved by Christ we must acknowledge that He is who He is, the God-man - both perfect God and sinless man. If you think you have asked Christ into your life but do not believe in Him for who He really is, by definition you have not asked in the real Jesus and therefore do not have Him in your life. Romans 10:9 declares, "If you confess with your lips Jesus as Lord and believe in you heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." Lord, or Yahweh, is the Old Testament name for God; thus he who confesses that Jesus is Lord affirms His deity. He who does not believe in Christ’s deity has not confessed Him as Lord, and therefore is not saved.

                Those who die without Jesus are still in their sins: "For unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins" -John 8:24. I AM is the divine name for God (Exodus 3:14), so believing that Jesus is the I AM, as He says we must do, is believing that He is God. This verse makes it very clear that He who does not believe in the real Jesus does not have God. It is not a pretty subject, but there are serious consequences for never trusting the True Jesus Christ, and Him alone, for your salvation, because those who die in their sins are responsible to pay their own death penalty: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him"-John 3:36. 1 John 5:12 says, "He who has the Son of God has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life."

                Mormons often refer to themselves as Christians, but a Christian person who has placed his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, for forgiveness for all of their sins and right standing before God. The Christian has recognized that Christ died to satisfy God's penalty for his sins and rose again, and has received Christ by faith. That faith is more than an intellectual assent to these truths, but rather an active trust in Christ alone and the rejection of all other hopes of salvation. He believes in the words of the Bible and the prophecies proclaimed in it by God and lives according to the Word.

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God,
because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

-1 John 4:1

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